Another cultural difference that I noticed between the US and France was the presence of widespread flea markets. These flea markets were a treasure trove of eccentric items, sold at throwaway prices. It was at one such flea market that I found a beautiful French style hat that I had always wanted to buy.
The flea market had hats in 3 piles of various price ranges -10, 15 or 20 Euro. I picked up a beautiful grey linen hat from the 20 Euro pile and started to bargain with the owner, an immigrant in the country to sell it to me at 15. He looked at me and the hat, and said, "You can have it for 10, Monsieur.." I was pleasantly surprised.
As I walked away from the flea market after making the purchase, I had a warm feeling inside me. The owner told me that the hat was a 10 Euro hat that had landed in the 20 Euro pile. He could have easily made a 5 Euro profit by agreeing to sell it at my offer of 15. But he chose to be honest and this gave me a taste of the business ethics of France.
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